Headgirl

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Headgirl was a collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool in 1980, the result being the St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP, though the groups were credited as MotörheadGirlschool on the EP.

The collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool started in March 1979, when Motörhead began their first big tour with Overkill and Girlschool were their opening act. Lemmy had heard Girlschool's single Take It All Away and thought they were "fucking excellent" and liked the idea of girls being in a band. In his opinion, Kelly Johnson was as good as any guitarist that he had ever seen in his life and "wanted to stick it up these pompous bastard guitarists' arses". In late December 1980, Motörhead's drummer, Phil Taylor, broke his neck, preventing his continuing to play, so Motörhead's producer, Vic Maile, suggested they record a single with Girlschool. Lemmy chose Please Don't Touch by one of his favourite groups of the past, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, for the flipside. The bands recorded each other's songs — Girlschool performed Bomber and Motörhead performed Emergency, although Denise Dufort played drums throughout.[1][2] The record was released on 14 February 1981, as St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP and reaching No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart, it became the biggest hit either band ever had in the charts. On 6 February the bands had been filmed in concert for a Nottingham TV show called Rockstage and on 19 February, billed as "Headgirl", they appeared on Top of the Pops playing Please Don't Touch.[3] With Girlschool as special guests on the Motörhead 2005 Inferno UK Tour, Lemmy joined the band at the end of their set at Brixton Academy on 19 November to play Please Don't Touch for the first time ever live.[4]

In 1981 a Japanese 12" single was released on the Bronze/Victor label, based on Please Don't Touch under the name Motorschool. Issued in a picture sleeve, it included Bomber played by Girlschool, Emergency and Bomber played by Motörhead, and Emergency and Yeah Right played by Girlschool. Lyrics to the songs were printed in English and Japanese.[5]

Bronze used the Headgirl collaboration again in 1981, this time for a 12" vinyl release in the Netherlands called Hard Rock On 12 — the record plays Please Don't Touch, Stay Clean, Metropolis and Demolition Boys but listed entirely different tracks on the sleeve.[5]

Kelly Johnson, formerly of Girlschool and also guitarist with Headgirl, died on 15 July 2007, aged 49, after suffering from cancer of the spine for six years. She was followed by former Motörhead drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on 11 November 2015, aged 61, after succumbing to liver failure and by bassist-vocalist Lemmy on 28 December 2015, aged 70, from cancer. Motörhead subsequently broke up, while Girlschool still perform at present.

References

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  2. Kilmister, Ian and Garza, Janiss White Line Fever (2002) — Simon & Schuster pp. 126,143-144 ISBN 0-684-85868-1.
  3. Burridge, Alan Illustrated Collector's Guide to Motörhead Published: 1995, Collector's Guide Publishing ISBN 0-9695736-2-6.
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  5. 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.